


Serious(ly in love with you)

by misscai



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Breakup Via Pistol, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together at a Soccer Game, Miscommunication, Romance, Spoilers ahead!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 14:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10492815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misscai/pseuds/misscai
Summary: "Liam had been avoiding her, Sadie was certain.At first she thought nothing of it. Then she was hurt. Then she was annoyed. So when a party invitation came from Reyes Vidal, Sadie went straight to Kallo and set a course for Kadara."





	

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers ahead for liam's and reyes's romance paths!!!!!! read at your own risk!!!!
> 
> some dialogue comes straight from the game, some of it is mildly amended game dialogue, and some of it is totally made up.
> 
> enjoy!!

Liam had been avoiding her, Sadie was certain. He was never in his room when she made her rounds on the lower deck; when she found him in the crew quarters, he was already engaged in conversation with Jaal (which she _could_ interrupt, but whenever she tried, Jaal was the only one responsive); if he was at the research table, he kept his nose buried in a datapad and wouldn't even look up at her.

At first she thought nothing of it. Then she was hurt. Then she was annoyed. So when a party invitation came from Reyes Vidal, Sadie went straight to Kallo and set a course for Kadara, then went down to her quarters to get ready.

“You look like you're going somewhere important,” Vetra commented, walking into the room and taking a seat on the couch. Sadie kept an open-door policy, in case of crew emergencies, but now that everyone was growing closer, most of her crew just stopped by to hang out. “I hope I'm invited.”

“Just me this time,” Sadie said, carefully applying a coat of mascara on her lashes.

“Kosta must be taking you somewhere nice. Not that there's anywhere 'nice' on Kadara.” Sadie's expression must have soured despite her attempts to keep it neutral, because Vetra hummed low in her throat. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Hard to have trouble when there's no paradise,” Sadie said bitterly, uncapping her lip stain and freshening the color before motioning towards her closet panel. “Will you pick an outfit for me? I'm not wearing this hoodie out again.” Vetra took a few minutes at the panel, then returned with a pair of dark jeans and a charcoal top that fell off Sadie's shoulders.

“So who are you meeting?”

“Reyes.”

“Ryder...” Vetra sighed, shaking her head, “he's not exactly a paragon of excellence. He's a smuggler. And I don't even think that's his real name. You shouldn't trust him.”

“I don't. Well, not entirely, at least. But he's been honest so far, and he's not one of Sloane's puppets. We're going to a party that she's hosting, and it'll piss her off to see me there. It's a win-win.” She breezed over to her footlocker, retrieving a small but deadly combat knife which she slipped into the pocket of her jeans. Just because it was a night off didn't mean Kadara was any less dangerous. Vetra caught Sadie's shoulder before the younger woman could leave. Her green eyes were piercing.

“Have you thought about how hurt Liam would be if he knew you were out with Reyes?” Sadie glanced at her boot-clad toes. Vetra could read her guilt. “What happened between you two?”

“We hooked up,” she admitted, “a while ago. And he was very quick—too quick—to say that it could just be casual. A one-time thing.”

“And that isn't what you want.”

“No.” Sadie's heart squeezed, thinking about just how much she cared for the man. It had felt like too much too soon, but she'd always been prone to diving into things head-first, and her affection for Liam was no different. She wouldn't say it was love, not yet. But God, was it close.

“So why don't you tell him that?”

“I did. And now he's avoiding me.” Sadie shrugged helplessly. “I might have ruined everything.”

“You need to sit down and talk to him,” Vetra said, poking Sadie's shoulder, “not go on a date with Reyes Vidal. That won't solve anything.” Of course she was right, but Sadie's pride was still wounded. She stepped away from Vetra, pausing to glance in the mirror and ruffle her hair.

“I don't know. Maybe he just wanted to fuck the Pathfinder.” She faked a smile and winked at her turian friend. “How do I look?”

“You know you always look good.” Vetra sighed, folding her arms over her chest. “If anything happens, you come straight to me. I'll stick around the port.”

“Thanks, Vee. You're the best.”

.

The party was horrible. Reyes abandoned her right past the door, and Sadie had already annoyed Sloane, so there was nothing else for her to do. She huffed and shoved her hands into her pockets, striding towards the door. Kaetus chuckled at her as she walked by, and Sadie's jaw clenched. Originally she'd intended to just slink back to the Tempest—hopefully avoiding Vetra and her knowing stare—but now she was pissed. Reyes Vidal was somewhere in this building, and Sadie was going to find him and end him.

She veered into the room on her left when the door blinked open, and sure enough, there was Reyes, digging through a stack of crates and muttering to himself. Sadie strode over to him and planted her foot firmly on his hip, shoving him over until he sprawled on the ground and then glowering down at him.

“I know this looks bad,” he began, holding his hands up in surrender.

“No, asking a girl out and then ditching her to dig through a room full of Sloane Kelly's stuff is _totally_ fine,” Sadie said, sarcasm and anger dripping from every word.

“I'm snooping for our mutual benefit, Ryder, I swear,” he said, then peered over her shoulder with alarm on his face. “Shit, someone's coming. We need a distraction.”

“Or I could just rat you out,” she hissed.

“You want Sloane to find you in her personal stash?” As much fun as Sadie would normally have pissing off Sloane, she wasn't in the mood for it today.

“Come here,” Sadie demanded, grabbing a fistful of Reyes's shirt and yanking him closer. His lips pressed to hers, a hand immediately going to her hip and holding her against him. She was still angry, but damn, he was a good kisser. The guard cleared her throat behind them and apologized for intruding; once they were in the clear, Reyes stepped away.

“I think we're safe,” he said, turning back to the crates and digging through them some more. “Ha! Finally! Here it is.” A bottle was clutched in his hand, a triumphant grin on his face. Sadie frowned.

“That's what this was all about? You ditched me for alcohol?”

“This, my friend, is the only bottle of Mount Milgrom in the entire galaxy. 645 years old. This is treasure.”

“I hope you're planning on sharing. You owe me that.”

“Of course,” Reyes said, grabbing her hand. “Let's get out of here.”

.

That night, Sadie found herself pacing the Tempest, unable to settle into bed. She called the Nexus on the vidcon, hoping that Scott would be awake, but Harry reported that Scott's condition hadn't changed. She spent time at the research station, then wandered over to the loadout room and thoroughly cleaned her weapons and armor.

The memory of Reyes kissing her on the rooftop, his breath tasting like the whiskey they'd shared, kept circling around her mind. It had been nice, enjoyable even, but all she could think about was how Reyes's hands in her hair weren't Liam's. It wasn't Reyes she wanted to be watching the sunset with. It was Liam.

“Ryder.” A hand closed on her shoulder, shaking her awake where she'd fallen asleep on her chest plate. She blinked blearily at Jaal, who was looking at her with concern. “What are you doing?”

“I had some kett blood ruining my paint job,” she said, motioning to the dirty rag still clutched in her hand.

“It is the middle of the night cycle. You should have cleaned earlier.” He was quiet for a moment, studying her. “There is something bothering you.”

“Mm.” It was a noncommittal answer.

“Would you like to tell me?” He didn't wait for her to answer, just nodded to himself and declared, “It is about Liam.”

“Am I that obvious?” She meant it as a joke, but human jokes still went over the angaran's head.

“Yes,” he said, sitting on the floor beside her. “It is in your eyes. You seek him out when you enter a room, and you look down when he does not look back. Then you are careful to not look at him again.” Sadie sighed, slouching forward again and resting her forehead against her chest plate. Jaal placed a hand on her upper back, patting it softly. “It is okay to cry, Ryder.” And she hadn't felt like she needed to, until Jaal said that. Then she looked up at him and her eyes flooded.

Jaal pulled her into his side, keeping an arm around her shoulders as she sniffled back her tears. A few fell despite her best efforts. She felt like a teenager again, getting weepy over a boy, but her frustration and hurt had built to a boiling point and were now spilling over. At least the rest of the ship wouldn't see it. She curled into Jaal, certain that the emotionally-open angara wouldn't mind. He just held her tighter and murmured, “Would you like to tell me what happened?”

And she did. Sadie talked and kept talking, her voice cracking and devolving into near-whispers at times, but she told Jaal everything, from the first jolt of attraction when Liam nudged her shoulder on the Nexus to the date with Reyes. When she was finished, silence settled on them.

“I know that the angara are more honest about their feelings than humans are, but I believe the best remedy is to speak with Liam about this.” Sadie shifted so she could look at her companion, and Jaal nodded in encouragement. “If you tell him that you wish to pursue a long-term commitment, I believe he will listen to you. So... you should do that.” Jaal frowned. “And do not see that Reyes man any more. You cannot trust a man who works in shadow.”

“You're friends with Liam, right?” Sadie asked quietly, biting her lip when Jaal nodded. “Do you... Have you heard him say anything about me?”

“He admires you greatly, as do we all. He has paid compliments to your abilities with a sniper rifle. Recently he has expressed concern about your spending time with Drack. He says you act recklessly in the krogan's company.” Sadie's shoulders slumped.

“But nothing about his feelings for me?”

“No.”

“Well.” She sat up, scrubbing the sleeve of her sweatshirt across her face to wipe away the remnants of tear tracks. “Maybe he doesn't have feelings, after all.” After storing her chest piece, Sadie got to her feet, extending a hand to help Jaal up as well. “Let's get some sleep. We're heading to check on Elaaden tomorrow.”

“Ryder. Talk to him.” Sadie just shook her head.

“Goodnight, Jaal.”

.

Seeing Sloane's email a few days later gave Sadie a bit of twisted amusement. The high-and-mighty ruler of Kadara Port, asking the Pathfinder to help her. That must have been bitter for Sloane to write. It was even better to make Sloane seethe with discomfort in person. But, because of her endless benevolence (Sadie made sure to emphasize this part) and generosity, Sadie agreed to watch Sloane's six during the meeting with the Charlatan.

“So this is probably going to go wrong somehow,” Vetra predicted as the Nomad bounced across the rocky landscape of Kadara's hills, on the way to Sloane's meeting point. “Bets on how?”

“Eiroch at the meeting point,” Sadie said. “Happens every time.”

“Perhaps an ambush,” Jaal suggested, “because Sloane does not like you.”

“All equally possible.” The Nomad crested a final hill, starting down in one of the 'controlled freefalls' that Sadie so enjoyed. The meeting point was a cave nestled in a small gully; the Nomad rolled up and parked perfectly outside the entrance. “Ladies and gentleman, you may now unfasten your seatbelts and move around the cabin. Thank you for riding the Nomad.”

“You do that every time,” Vetra complained to Sadie's grinning face, “and it is _still_ not funny.”

“It's a little funny,” Sadie insisted, hopping out of the rover and heading for the cave. Sloane stood just inside, her arms crossed with impatience.

“About time. Come on, let's get this done.” They walked into the darkness together, Sadie's eyes struggling to adjust even as Sloane was already searching for a rival who wasn't in sight.

“You look like you're waiting for someone.” Sadie's jaw dropped, her pulse ratcheting upwards in surprise and horror. She knew that voice, knew the lips that had formed the words, the mouth that sounded like it was smirking.

“Reyes?”

“I'm here for the Charlatan,” Sloane snarled, “not some third-rate smuggler.”

“They're one and the same,” Sadie murmured, feeling the slow numbness of shock giving way to a stinging betrayal. “You lied to me. This whole time, you've been lying to me.” The situation was made even worse with the knowledge that Jaal and Vetra—both of whom had warned Sadie about Reyes, told her to stay away from him—were bearing witness to their doubts being confirmed. They were seeing Sadie be _wrong._

“Not about everything,” he said, and his voice was too gentle. “You know who I really am.”

“Stop.” The word came out like a whip, sharp and snapping. “Just stop.” Her ears were ringing, her stomach twisted behind her bellybutton. She missed the remainder of Sloane and Reyes's conversation, caught up in the swirling thoughts that two men had now abandoned her, and what was so wrong with her that that would happen? The two faction leaders circled each other in the cave; Sadie watched as if in a daze.

“Pathfinder, there is a sniper trained on Sloane,” SAM said into her comms, breaking her trance just long enough for Sadie to tackle Sloane to the ground, the bullet narrowly missing both their heads. Immediately Sloane shot the pistol out of Reyes's hand. He cursed, running for the entrance of the cave. Sadie scrambled to her feet, her own weapon drawn and rage now burning through her blood. She shot once, feeling a surge of satisfaction when he stumbled over the new pain in his leg, but he still managed to board a waiting transport ship.

“For what it's worth,” he called down to her, having the gall to wink, “you're one hell of a woman, Ryder.” She curled her free hand so tightly that her nails bit into the skin of her palms, then she fired off her entire pistol clip at the ship, the bullets pinging uselessly off of the shields; for good measure, when it was empty, she threw the pistol, too.

.

There wasn't really time in a Pathfinder's schedule for moping, but Sadie convinced Kallo to fly around all the newly discovered star systems, cataloging planets and searching for resources while Sadie threw herself face-first onto her bed, not even bothering to get out of her armor beforehand. Emotions rose and fell within her like a tidal wave: pain over Liam's dismissal, guilt from her dalliance with Reyes, anger at herself for being stupid enough to care for either of them, and an overwhelming sense of loneliness that eclipsed everything else. She missed her brother. She missed her mom. She missed the warmth of another body, the grounded feeling of having a heart beating against her back. Now it seemed like she'd never have that opportunity again.

Her door swished open and Sadie cursed herself for not enabling its lock function. Nobody needed to see her like this. _Especially_ not the person who had just walked in.

“You know, naps are usually more comfortable without head-to-toe body armor on,” Liam commented. She didn't respond, until the bed dipped down under his weight.

“Please,” she mumbled into the mattress, “go away.”

“I will. I just... I had a thing that I've been working on, and I wanted to invite you to see. It's on Eos. Prodromos. I emailed you.” The nervousness in his voice struck a chord with her, deep inside the barrier of hurt. She loved him. She knew it then. Even though she was already imagining the conversation they'd have on Eos, the way he'd compliment her but let her down easy, saying that he wasn't ready for a commitment that big yet—even though she knew that her heart was going to break, she loved him.

“We aren't on course to anywhere,” Sadie said quietly. “You can ask Kallo to divert to Eos.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that.” He didn't get up. “You okay, Pathfinder?” She winced at the title, though with her face buried in the mattress, he didn't see.

“Just tired,” she mumbled.

“I'll let you rest, then. You need to be wide-awake for Eos.”

.

Suvi roused her with the alert that they were coming in for the landing at Prodromos. With a groan, Sadie rolled herself off the mattress, her limbs stiff and aching from sleeping in her armor. She stripped down to her undersuit, then stripped out of that, too, hoping that the climate on Eos had stabilized enough for her to go out in her jeans and Initiative hoodie. If not, she'd just get radiation poisoning. No big deal. Probably a more pleasant experience than the 'let's be friends' she was bracing herself for.

“Hey, Pathfinder!” Liam called, waving her over when he saw her descending the ramp. “Almost ready over here!” Sadie's mood lifted briefly when she noticed the soccer ball, resting and ready at Liam's feet. It had been her favorite sport on Earth; both she and Scott had been on a co-ed, co-species team for other military brats. Her heart twisted at the thought that Scott wouldn't be at her side on the defending line, and just like that, she had no interest in playing. Still, it was good to see the residents of Prodromos grinning and trading good-natured banter back and forth.

“How did you do all this?” She asked Liam when she was close enough. He kicked the ball out to the waiting teams, allowing the game to start.

“Easy, really. A ball, some flat ground. The guys in HUSTL used to start games in refugee camps. Thought it might lift some spirits around here.” He glanced at her, almost shyly. “What do you think?”

“It's... nice. Really nice. I'm sure everyone appreciates it.”

“It wasn't just for them. I wanted it to be something for you, too.” He shifted his weight, keeping his eyes on the makeshift field. “I couldn't have done any of this without you. I mean it. Rallying people together, helping them make a life out here, that's something that we both want. We're the same. About a lot of things.” His eyes flicked over to her, and Sadie met his gaze, waiting for the 'but.' It didn't come. “So... what about 'us'?” Her pulse kicked up a notch, then stuttered when he kept talking. “Fun's fun. I mean, it's okay if it's just 'we used to flirt'.”

“Is—” Her mouth was dry, cutting off the sentence until she looked down, swallowed, and tried again. “Is that what you want?”

“No.” His hands closed around her shoulders, squeezing until she looked at him. He was blurry; her eyes were tearing up. “Ryder, no. It's not.” She let out a sigh that was half-relief and half-sob, and Liam reeled her into a hug, pressing her forehead against his collar bone. “Is that what you thought?”

“We didn't ever—we never agreed on what we were doing, and you said it could be casual, so I thought... And then you weren't really talking to me... I didn't know. I thought you regretted it.” He held her tighter.

“Ahh, I'm sorry,” he groaned. “I was planning all this and I knew if I talked to you, I'd spill the secret. I wanted it to be a surprise.” They broke apart, only for Liam to grab her hands. “I don't regret a thing, Ryder. I thought I might be rushing you into it; that's why I offered casual.”

“But you don't want casual?” It seemed too good to be true, even when he beamed at her and shook his head.

“If you're serious, I'd like to be serious.”

“I do. I want to.” Sadie felt absolutely buoyant, but one thread of guilt held her down. “Liam, I... I kissed Reyes. When I thought you didn't want me anymore.” He just nodded. “You knew?”

“Jaal let it slip accidentally. It's not a big deal—like you said, we hadn't really decided what we were yet. As long as he's out of the picture now, we're good.”

“He lied to me and I shot him, so I think it's over.” Liam burst out laughing, and Sadie joined in.

“I'll be sure to keep things honest between us,” he said, still chuckling as he tucked her into his side and pressed a kiss to her temple. The soccer ball rolled over to them; he trapped it under one foot. “They're switching up. You want to play?”

“Y'know, my muscles are _really_ tense from falling asleep in my gear. I think I might need to relax. Maybe with a nice, hot shower.” Her fingertips found their way under the hem of his shirt, tickling along his hipbone for a brief moment before she backed towards the Tempest with a smirk on her face that only widened when Liam kicked the ball back into play and followed after her.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm Very Passionate about liam kosta


End file.
